Last week, the U.S. Department of Education opened the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) grant competition, and eligible colleges have until Tuesday, June 23, 2026, at 11:59 pm Eastern to apply.

In order to compete for this grant, colleges need to have been declared eligible by the Department of Education for FY26 based on the Title III/V grant eligibility process that was run earlier this spring.  If you are eligible, have never had a SIP grant, or had one that ended before September 30, 2024, you can apply for an individual grant in this competition. Otherwise, you can apply for a cooperative grant.  Applicants whose projects are serving a rural campus setting, as defined by the National Center for Education Statistics College Navigator search tool, will have an advantage with an extra 10 competitive preference points.

SIP grants can be used for a broad range of activities that strengthen institutional capacity, including for educational equipment and materials, construction and renovation of instructional facilities, development and improvement of academic programs, student success services including tutoring, financial literacy education, establishing or improving a development office, or even to establish an endowment fund.

This year, applicants can get five additional competition points by incorporating work-based learning opportunities; developing or expanding Workforce Pell-eligible programs (as long as it is for credit-bearing courses that count towards a degree); or for a range of projects designed to incorporate AI into education.

There is more funding available for this grant program this year as the Department of Education is combining several funding pots for Title III and V grants into this one competition and not funding discretionary grant programs for Minority-Serving Institutions.  So, if you previously had a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), Predominantly Black Institution (PBI), Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI), Native American-Serving Nontribal Institution (NASNTI) or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institution (ANNHSI) grant, you may want to take a close look at this competition.

These SIP grants are five-year grants, and awards will average – for the full five-year grant period – $3 million for individual grants and $4 million for cooperative grants.  The grants will be funded one year at a time, and it should be noted that there is no stated maximum funding amount per year, although applicants have to submit the total amount of project funds for subsequent years.

For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/362513

To learn more, listen to the Department of Education’s pre-application webinar on Thursday, June 4th from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Amanda Fuchs Miller is the founder and President of Seventh Street Strategies and former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education.